Pedagogical policy officer childcare

If you run a childcare centre, you must have a (paid) pedagogical policy officer for a mandatory number of hours.

You can choose to have 2 people do the work of the pedagogical policy officer. The options are:

• a pedagogical policy officer (policy only) together with a pedagogical coach (coaching only)
• a pedagogical policy officer/coach (policy and coaching)

What is a pedagogical policy officer?

A pedagogical policy officer:

• coaches your pedagogical staff in their daily work (for example with tips, explanations, and examples on child raising, care, and development)
• develops and monitors your pedagogic policy
• can assist in the group

Which skills must a pedagogical policy officer have?

The job description and training requirements (in Dutch) for the pedagogical policy officer can be found in the Collective Labour Agreement for Childcare (CAO Kinderopvang). Job and educational requirements for a pedagogical policy officer/coach are amongst others:

• higher professional education level (hbo) or academic working and thinking level
• knowledge of and insight into pedagogic policy
• knowledge of (intervention) methods, principles, and instruments of coaching
• knowledge of developmental phases and developmental areas of young children

There are a number of ways to meet the training requirements for a pedagogical policy officer. It also depends on the type of childcare organisation which certificates are required. You can find out what the requirements are in annex 13.2 Quality requirement pedagogical policy officer/coach (Bijlage 13.2 Kwaliteits-eis pedagogisch beleidsmedewerker/coach, in Dutch) of the CAO Kinderopvang.

How many hours must you deploy the pedagogical policy officer?

You must deploy your pedagogical policy officer for an obligatory number of hours. For every childcare centre, at least 50 hours per year must be dedicated to policy development and implementation. With the calculation tool Pedagogical policy officer in childcare (Rekentool pedagogisch beleidsmedewerker kinderopvang, in Dutch) you can calculate how many hours are mandatory in your situation.

For every full-time, flexible, or temporary employee, at least 10 hours per year per childcare organisation must be dedicated to coaching. You may divide the hours of coaching among employees yourself. You must keep track of these hours.

Professional childcarer-child ratio

The hours the pedagogical policy officer works in the group count towards the professional childcarer-child ratio (beroepskracht-kind ratio, BKR). This only applies to hours worked as a pedagogical staff member (helping with the care, upbringing, and development of the children). If the pedagogical policy officer only watches and coaches, the officer does not count for the BKR.